The Actors (2003)

Director:

Conor McPherson

Writers:

Neil Jordan (story) and
Conor McPherson (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 April 2003 (Ireland)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

Thick as thieves. Only thicker.

Plot Keywords:

Debt | Wheelchair | Disguise | Stage Play | Irish

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Michael Caine	...	Anthony O'Malley
Dylan Moran	...	Tom Quirk
Michael Gambon	...	Barreller
Lena Headey	...	Dolores
Miranda Richardson	...	Mrs. Magnani
Michael McElhatton	...	Jock
Aisling O'Sullivan	...	Rita
Ben Miller	...	Clive
Abigail Iversen	...	Mary
Michael Colgan	...	Audition Director
Deirdre Walsh	...	Camcorder Girl
Bill Hickey	...	Stage Doorkeeper
Veronica O'Reilly	...	Box Office Attendant
Paul Ward	...	Maurice - Usher
Brian McGuinness	...	Dermot - Usher

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

UK:91 min

Country:

UK | Germany | Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Ireland:15A | UK:15 | USA:R | Finland:K-11 | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

Bórd Scannán na hÉireann

Soundtrack:

Could It Be Love?

So-so comedy film that lacks laughs but has a reasonable plot

Anthony O'Malley is an old actor who has long since said goodbye to his best days. A lacklustre performance in a terrible version of Richard III that nobody wants to see. One of his support cast is the unsuccessful and jobbing actor Tom who is equally in need of some form or career or income boost. In order to help develop his villain, O'Malley has been hanging around a rough pub in the docks with a criminal called Barreller and, in doing so he has learnt that Barreller owes another party money – a party he does not know. So O'Malley makes a proposition to Tom – that Tom will present himself as an agent for this "other party", collect the money and split it with O'Malley. The first act is simple and well executed but quickly the two find themselves getting deeper into lies.

At the time of release I must confess that the trailer did nothing to make me want to see this but, by the time the television premier rolled around I had forgotten this and decided to tune in for the presence of Dylan Moran whom I find very funny in certain things. Sadly this was not one of them and laughs were pretty thin on the ground throughout. So instead I settled into the plot, which at first seemed to offer some interesting scenarios before quickly collapsing into a series of disguises and unconvincing ideas that don't really work. It isn't "bad" per se but it certainly isn't any good. It produced enough forward movement and amusing ideas to hold my interest but it rarely did anything to justify doing so and I was generally disappointed with the fact that it failed to do much.

The characters are not that well developed and the sort of pathos I hoped would add value to the material and there isn't that much for the actors to work with. This lack of depth means Michael Caine can't do much with his character and has no laughs to help him out – thus seeing him finally dressed as a woman is yet another low in a career of highs and lows. Moran struggles with the lack of good comedy to work with but still makes a good fist of his various characters and is amusing if not funny. Gambon collects his check and turns in an average performance while Headey looks sexy but doesn't have much else to do. Iverson also lacks material but she gives a nice performance and avoids being an annoying cute kid type of actor.

Overall this is a fairly average film that offers some fun early on but generally just becomes messy and poorly delivery the more it goes on. The cast are so-so mainly because they lack the laughs (Moran) or the depth (Caine) that they needed to turn in good work. It all does enough to be watchable but it doesn't do anything particularly well.